I’m not making up a story when I suggest you could be charmed by Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights
at Northern Kentucky University. After all, her play is about telling
tales: Scheherazade, the latest bride of a cruel king who has a history
of marrying and executing his wives, survives by stringing him along
with stories she promises to finish the next night — for a “Thousand and
One Nights.” (Read my profile of Mary Zimmerman here.) She plies him with tales of Sinbad and Ali Baba. Audiences
at NKU will likely be strung along, too. Senior Cynthea Mercado plays
Scheherazade, whose life, she says, “is threatened with the reality of
her situation, and yet she is still able to enjoy her own tales and
sometimes get lost in them.” No need to get lost. Find your way to
Highland Heights and NKU’s Corbett Theatre for this production, through
March 2. Tickets: 859-572-5464.
If a classic musical is to your taste, you might try Andrew Lloyd Webber’s epic musical Evita,
in a touring production at the Aronoff Center through March 2. I caught
a performance last evening, and it looks great — some epic scenery and
excellent choreography. Josh Young as Che is charismatic and
strong-voiced in his role as the show’s commentator. Unfortunately,
Caroline Bowman’s Eva Perón gets too shrill way too fast and becomes a
grasping harpy before there’s a chance to be won over by her
Machiavellian charms. As Juan Peron, Sean MacLaughlin looks young and
slimy, without the sinister gravitas that the historical figure
possessed. That doesn’t leave much opportunity to convey the complex
chemistry — passion and manipulation — that bonded them as a political
machine. But the tale of the ambitious young woman who rose to the
highest levels of power in Argentina then crashed and burned is a
memorable modern tragedy, and the show’s rock-opera tunes by Andrew
Lloyd Webber will stick in your head. Tickets: 513-621-ARTS.
Cincinnati Shakespeare is keeping the cast of its recent production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet intact with its current production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
This time around, it’s the story of Hamlet’s college buddies
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who move from Shakespeare’s sidelines to
Stoppard’s center stage. In this classic 1967 script, the pawns become
the central characters, while Prince Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, King
Claudius, Ophelia and others wander by. The classic tragedy is turned on
its head, and it becomes an existential tragedy for two guys who
everyone has a hard time telling apart. Through March 9. Tickets:
513-381-2273.
The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of Amy Herzog’s Pulitzer Prize finalist script, 4000 Miles,
is onstage at the Shelterhouse Theatre. It’s about a 91-year-old
grandmother and her 21-year-old grandson bridging a giant generation gap
and finding that they actually have a lot in common. Through March 9.
Tickets: 513-421-3888.
It’s the final weekend for several shows that have been pleasing audiences. Nina Raine’s Tribes
at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati was originally scheduled to close last
Sunday, but to meet ticket demand for the show about coping with
deafness — and contentious families — ETC added performances through
Saturday. (CityBeat review here.) Tickets: 513-421-3555. … A block away at Know Theatre, the
off-kilter script by Steve Yockey, Pluto, winds up on
Saturday, too. It’s about dealing with tragedy and grief, told in an
inventive, sometimes even humorous, manner. Two of Cincinnati’s finest
actors — Annie Fitzpatrick and Tori Wiggins — are in this one, making it
very watchable. (CityBeat review here.) Tickets: 513-300-5669 … For the younger set, this
weekend offers the final public performance, Saturday at 2 p.m., of
Children’s Theatre’s Pinkalicious at the Taft. It’s the story of a girl who can’s stop eating pink cupcakes. Tickets: 800-745-3000.
And here’s a tip for Monday evening: Dayton native Daniel Beaty, who pleased a lot of Playhouse patrons last season with his tour-de-force one-man show, Through the Night, will be in town for a one-night performance to promote his new book, Transforming Pain to Power.
His performance (6:30 p.m. in the Marx Theatre) and the book signing
afterward in the Rosenthal Plaza) are free, but you need to make a
reservation with the Playhouse box office: 513-421-3888.

Tuesday • Taft Theatre

It seems a little early (or maybe late)
for a Gregory Alan Isakov concert. His warm voice is more on par with a
concert in the grass on an Indian summer evening. Still, we should be
happy to have him in town whenever we can get him.

Deafheaven continues to challenge and destroy the boundaries of Black Metal

Sunbather, the second album from
Deafheaven, is a true listening “experience.” Clocking in at just under
an hour, it moves from the epic blast-furnace riffage and jackhammer
drumming of “Dream House” to the pensive, piano-laced wanderings of
“Irresistible” with uncommon grace and fluidity. And that’s just the
first two songs.

Tuesday • Ballroom at the Taft Theatre

Coalescing in Sacramento, Calif., more
than a dozen years ago, !!! (pronounced "Chk Chk Chk") is one of the prime
members of the Dance Punk movement it helped usher in with such
like-minded new-millennium acts as LCD Soundsystem, The Juan Maclean and
The Rapture.

Since Los Angeles is one of the centers of the music universe, being dubbed the “Best Live Band” in the city is an incredibly high honor. Energetic eight-member Americana ensemble The Dustbowl Revival received that exact honor this year when the city’s L.A. Weekly named the group the Best Live Band of 2013 in its Best of L.A. issue. Tonight you can see and hear for yourself when The Dustbowl Revival headlines MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Brad Loans of local greats The Sundresses opens the free show at around 10 p.m. with a solo set.
The Revival’s kitchen-sink approach touches on a bigger-than-usual array of American Roots music influences, from Western Swing, New Orleans Jazz, Dixieland and Be Bop to Blues, Gospel, Folk and numerous other styles (both expected and not). Delivered using the classic tools of the Americana trade (numerous brass instruments, fiddle, clarinet, mandolin, washboard, harmonica and kazoo, plus stand-up bass and guitars), The Dustbowl Revival’s latest release, Carry Me Back Home, was released to critical acclaim earlier this year. But, if the enthusiastic testaments online are any indication, seeing the group’s wildly entertaining live show is the best way to experience the Revival.
• Punk rockers turning to Folk and Roots music is nothing new (see: Billy Bragg, The Pogues), but it’s become a not unwelcome epidemic in the past decade. It’s easy to see the appeal — Punk and Folk are kissing cousins that share a raw purity and, often, a sense of social/political justice in the lyrics.
Another part of the appeal may just be how some of the artists who make the shift and go full Folk have found huge success after the makeover. Frank Turner, for example. The British folkie was the singer for Hardcore Punk band Million Dead in the early ’00s. The band’s run was short and relatively successful, but nothing compared to what Turner has experienced since strapping on an acoustic guitar and going solo in 2005 after the band’s split. After his debut album in 2007, Turner’s career took off and he built his now-huge fanbase by touring with bands like The Gaslight Anthem, The Offspring and Green Day, which had him open stadium shows for the band in 2010.
This year, Turner released his fifth album, Tape Deck Heart, his first recorded in the U.S. and his first under a global deal with Interscope Records. Turner comes to the Ballroom at the Taft Theatre tonight in support of the album. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Koo Koo Kanga Roo and The Smith Street Band open. Tickets are $20 at the door. Turner is touring with his full backing band, The Sleeping Souls.
Here’s the video for the new album single “Losing Days”:
• Two up-and-coming Rock crews with a rising presence on the FM Rock airways cruise into Bogart’s tonight. The Classic Rock-influenced bands Taddy Porter and Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights play at 7 p.m. Read Amy Harris’ interview with Tyler for CityBeat here and check out Taddy Porter’s video for the single “The Gun” below:
Click here for even more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.

Acoustic guitar phenom Andy McKee performs downtown tonight at the Ballroom at Taft Theatre. Admission is $18 for the 7 p.m. show which, unlike most Ballroom performances, will be a seated affair. Though he works his magic with just wood and strings, technology played a big role in McKee’s success story. About seven years ago, McKee’s label at the time posted on YouTube a few low-production videos of the fingerstyle guitar instrumentalist showcasing his compellingly original approach, which involves a lot of rhythmic slapping, alternate tunings, unusual fret fingering and other atypical elements. Those simple videos launched McKee — who counts players like Michael Hedges and Preston Reed among his biggest influences — into the the upper echelon of viral video sensations, not because of something stupid (like most super-popular YouTube videos), but because of his gripping acoustic wizardry. The clip below, featuring his composition “Drifting,” was one of the first posted; it now has more than 48 million views (other clips have a similarly stratospheric number of views).
McKee had released two critically acclaimed albums before 2005’s Art of Motion, which featured the songs that would make him one of YouTube’s biggest musical success stories. By the time 2007’s Gates of Gnomeria was released, McKee was able to successfully tour the globe and play for large audiences everywhere he went, something that continues to this day (though he slowed down just slightly when he and his wife welcomed their first child). The Kansas native moved up to the Razor and Tie label for distribution and would go on to found the Guitar Masters Tour, sharing the spotlight with other acoustic alchemists and also helping the next generation of players with various guitar workshops. McKee’s most recent release is 2010’s Joyland; on his website in June, McKee said that he will be releasing new material gradually over several months instead of saving up material for a single album release. • Tonight in the Taft Theatre’s big room, Trampled By Turtles returns. The Minnesota band has built up a huge following by eschewing most of the traditional music biz support systems, like record labels. The DIY success story is ongoing as the progressive Americana/Bluegrass ensemble’s popularity continues to skyrocket. The band just released its live album/DVD package Live at First Avenue earlier this week. Check out CityBeat’s preview of the show and then take a look at a clip from the new release:
Tonight’s show at the Taft starts at 9 p.m. with Nashville Indie Roots group The Apache Relay opening.Tickets are $22.50.• While it’s likely that most area fans of EDM are going to be checking out the big Ubahn Fest downtown tonight (and tomorrow; click here for details and previews), The Mad Frog in Corryville is also presenting a showcase of diverse, progressive Electronic music. Named after a mini-game within Nintendo 64’s Mario Party video games — a nod to 8-bit and gaming culture influences — Shy Guy Says is the work of rising Electronic music artist Jarrod Linne, who works out of Bloomington, Ind. Linne creatively mixes Hip Hop grooves and other elements with a multitude of EDM styles (Glitch, Trap, Electro, Downtempo House, etc.), never allowing himself to be easily pigeonholed by constantly exploring new sonic realms. The next Shy Guys Says release is the EP The Hellephant, coming out through the Rad Summer label. Look for the EP on Beatport this Monday and everywhere else Dec. 2. On Wednesday, TheUntz.com previewed the new EP track “Round 1 (They Meet).” Check it below:
Shy Guy Says will be joined by Indianapolis’ Magnetic for tonight’s Mad Frog show. Taking the same genre-blurring approach as Shy Guy, Magnetic’s DJ sets blend remixes of other people’s music with original tracks and are said to be uniquely engaging and energized. Rounding out tonight’s bill is another Indy artist, Kodama, and Cincinnati’s own Kaiten (aka Kurt Heer), who works with the label/promo group/management agency, Massive Detroit Records. Doors open at 8 p.m. and music begins at 9 p.m. Cover charge is $5.• Country music star Justin Moore pulls his tour into Bank of Kentucky Center tonight in Highland Heights, Ky. After performing in bands and writing songs for others, Moore scored a deal with Valory Music Group (part of Big Machine Records) in 2008. After a few successful singles, Moore’s self-titled debut album was released in 2009 and promptly shot to No. 3 on the Country charts and No. 10 on the overall album chart. Moore recently released his third album, Off the Beaten Path, which hit No. 2 on the album chart (and No. 1 on the Country chart). Read more about Moore in CityBeat’s preview here. And here’s the video for the new album’s single, “Point at You”:
Tonight’s Bank of Kentucky Center show features openers Randy Houser and Josh Thompson. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $26.75-$39.75. Click here for more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.